E-commerce platform sellers. Who regulates them?

quizzling

wealdroam wrote: »

What rubbish.

Only if you jump to the wrong conclusions like you have.

What do you want?

Sensible advice Please

You want a 'regulator'? Why?

I never said that!

You have made a mistake.
If you don't think it is worth trying to enforce your rights, then why should a regulator do it?

You are misinformed.

Just try and avoid making the same mistake again.

I am not an idiot. It can happen to anyone. Including you.

And £35 plus £55 is £90.

OK so £5 more. You are wrong anyway. I would never win the case.

wealdroam

quizzling wrote: »

I thank you for your negative input but please don't bother again.

Well, that's the first time you have thanked anyone on this thread.

Good night.

quizzling

I am a newbie & I am still learning I have thanked on other threads & since you complained I have thanked everyone who has been helpful. I am new to the idea of forums. But why should I need to thank someone for wasting my time & being rude. I'll thank you anyway if it makes you feel better.

quizzling

wealdroam wrote: »

Well, that's the first time you have thanked anyone on this thread.

Good night.

I will not sleep tonight but tomorrow in the day I will have a long nap.

paddyrg

You're asking about buying a b2b service, not a consumer product, and many of the cheaper companies are offshore - you really do have no rights per se, just the license terms you sign up for. This is why people are advising small claims court as being your only option.

How do you find a good supplier? It is tough. I see you've posted in Small Biz already, good start, but really it comes down to your own research and judgement - and that's what running a business comes down to!

One thing though, remember an IT professional (eg a technical architect or DBA) would charge £300+ a day, so perhaps £149/year isn't as bad as it sounds for someone to take the stresses away? You do, to a greater or lesser extent, though, get what you pay for. Perhaps it is worth putting a technical advisor on some sort of retainer, then asking them to analyse your needs and suggest some suitable services which they can appraise with insight?

FunnySaving

If the only thing you can find about a site is their own forums, then that should set alarm bells ringing - most reputable sites have plenty of reviews on the web which will give you some idea of what you can expect. There are also several free sites which offer these services with an option to upgrade to a paid service to access more features, so you can try them out before you commit to spending any money - maybe one of those would suit your needs more. Or, if your time is more important than money, hire a web designer to do the work for you and that way you have much more control over what you get.

texranger

quizzling wrote: »

I have been ripped off 3 times now by 3 different e-commerce platform sellers.
Can anyone help?

They say (free support) but then they keep you in a queue for ages on an 0871 or 0845 number which ends up costing more than they charge you monthly. There's Search engine optimization, email accounts, product amounts, templates, web space to consider. Anyone can start a company up & say they are the best but who is it that regulates them all? As far as my research show the answer is Nobody! Business link is closing down & citizens advice couldn't help, Trading standards couldn't help either!

Setting up has been a nightmare. 2 weeks I was told. It's now been 7 weeks & I am still having to wait 48hrs for them to reply to my emails! There are hundreds of companies doing this & they are getting away with it hand over fist.

Is anyone policing this part of the market or any way of finding out who is good & who is bad. Is there an overseer of this selling practice> I'm not even sure what it's called. I'm not talking about hosting. I am talking about companies that rent you a website with a template & you pay them monthly. I'm told it's ecommerce selling platforms but I'm not sure.


At the moment it's pot luck & I have been very unlucky to the sum of approx £500 in the last two years.

Starting a business with an online ecommerce platform should be transparent but the pitfalls are many.

Does anyone know of any research done on who is to be trusted in this field?

At the moment it is Russian roulette. I am now looking at trying freestart but they want payment for a whole year upfront. Anyone familiar with them?

Regards,
Jon

0871 numbers are now deemed premium rate numbers and are regulated by http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/ these numbers if listed oin their sites MUST also show the call rates you are being charged along with an average waiting time per call.

texranger

quizzling wrote: »

I have been ripped off 3 times now by 3 different e-commerce platform sellers.
Can anyone help?

They say (free support) but then they keep you in a queue for ages on an 0871 or 0845 number which ends up costing more than they charge you monthly. There's Search engine optimization, email accounts, product amounts, templates, web space to consider. Anyone can start a company up & say they are the best but who is it that regulates them all? As far as my research show the answer is Nobody! Business link is closing down & citizens advice couldn't help, Trading standards couldn't help either!

Setting up has been a nightmare. 2 weeks I was told. It's now been 7 weeks & I am still having to wait 48hrs for them to reply to my emails! There are hundreds of companies doing this & they are getting away with it hand over fist.

Is anyone policing this part of the market or any way of finding out who is good & who is bad. Is there an overseer of this selling practice> I'm not even sure what it's called. I'm not talking about hosting. I am talking about companies that rent you a website with a template & you pay them monthly. I'm told it's ecommerce selling platforms but I'm not sure.


At the moment it's pot luck & I have been very unlucky to the sum of approx £500 in the last two years.

Starting a business with an online ecommerce platform should be transparent but the pitfalls are many.

Does anyone know of any research done on who is to be trusted in this field?

At the moment it is Russian roulette. I am now looking at trying freestart but they want payment for a whole year upfront. Anyone familiar with them?

Regards,
Jon

why pay for a ecommerce platform.

get a good webhost, to host an ecommerce site most likely £30 a yr and another £10 for an SSL and £10 for a dedicated IP, so thats £50. hosts will have one click installers that will alow you to install OScommerce, zencart, opencart etc. and then you can find many free or cheap templates to suit your business